Some automotive parts, such as glass run channels, are capable of being shipped in a container in a hanging orientation, because they are generally U shaped or three sided. The channel is also substantially planar, although any or all of the three closed sides may have a significant curvature out of the plane of the part. Such a part may be inserted down into a container, open side first, until the closed side opposed to the open side hits a stop that holds the entire part in position, hanging under its own weight. While this is the most convenient shipping and handling orientation for the part, there are many drawbacks with the current containers used to ship and handle the parts, both in terms of cost, and in terms of packing and unpacking efficiency. These problems are illustrated in the drawing Figures below, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the current shipping container;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.
The current container 10 is shown packed with a plurality of glass run channels, indicated generally at 12. Each channel 12 is generally U or C shaped, with two side legs 14 and a top leg 16 joining the two. Within this basic configuration, any channel like 12 may vary considerably. The three closed sides may have almost any relative shape and orientation, and may be significantly curved, so that they do not lie in a plane, but occupy a considerable volume. Nevertheless, there will typically be an open side of predetermined width, and an opposed closed side like the top leg 16. This basic, open sided shape allows the part to be shipped in a hanging orientation, with the top leg 16 resting on a support and the side legs 14 hanging down under their own weight. Still, shipping parts like the channels 12 is not as simple as hanging coats on a rod, which can simply be allowed to swing back and forth, in any relative location. Unlike coats, the various surfaces of the channels 12 must be protected against jostling and mutual contact at all times: when they are packed, in the container 10, during shipping, and during unpacking when the parts are installed on the vehicle. The current system for providing shipping protection consists of a pair of slotted combs 18 running side to side across the container 10, each of which comprises a series of regular, aligned slots. Each channel 12 is packed in a container 10 by pushing the side legs 14 down until the top legs 16 pop into a pair of tight fitting, aligned slots in the combs 18. This keeps the channels 12 in a regularly spaced orientation. The combs 18, usually a resilient plastic or foam material, protect at least the channels' top legs 16, and also provide some measure of swing control to protect the hanging side legs 14 of adjacent channels 12. Each channel 12 is removed from container 10 simply by pulling it up and out of the combs 18.
Despite the almost universal use of the type of container 10 described above, it has many drawbacks, both inherent and practical. Most fundamentally, the design presents an unhappy compromise between shipping density and shipping protection. The more closely packed the parts are on the combs 18, the more likely they are to swing against one another, during packing, shipping, removal, or all three. The less densely they are packed, the more protected they are, but the costs of shipping, in terms of numbers of containers and assembly line space used, go up. Moreover, each channel 12 that is handled is just as difficult to remove from, or add to, container 10 as the previous or the next, since the packing position is not adjustable. It has also been found that the comb 18 is so likely to be damaged in use that is not practical to recycle a container like 10. The entire structure is simply scrapped after one use, with all the attendant costs and waste. This is the main reason that the obvious expedient of providing separate spacers or panels to further separate and protect the hanging side legs 14 has not been followed. More scrap costs would be incurred. In addition, shipping density would likely be reduced even more.